fawkes

4 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick, fun read. It’s a young adult, historical fiction fantasy book. England is suffering from a plague that turns infected people’s body to stone. If the infection spreads enough in the person’s body, it is deadly. Thomas Fawkes is the son of legendary Guy Fawkes. He has been infected with the stone plague in his eye, which he needs to hide from the public.

Certain people have magic, called color power. It allows them to manipulate objects and elements. One group of people identify as Keepers, the other as Igniters. Each group things the other created the stone plague and are at war with each other. Thomas joins his father’s plot to blow up the King and Parliment, called the Gunpowder Plot. They believe doing so will stop the plague. But as Thomas gets deeper into the planning, he begins to have doubts about following through with it.

This was an interesting twist on historical fiction. I had never heard of the Gunpowder Plot, but was fascinated to learn that most of the characters and events in the book were true – except the magic, of course. The story was entertaining and had plenty of likeable characters and fun villains. It’s a stand alone novel, so if you don’t like book series, this is a good book for you.